I was traveling, which meant no guitar and no keyboard; just a laptop and a set of earbuds. The minimalism was leaving me dry of ideas. I had two choices: work on actual projects with actual deadlines, or try something out of my comfort zone and see if that would inspire. So, uh, I did the second one . The vocals were recorded after I got home.

Wow! Somehow you fused your pop songwriting skills with something more like NIN than 9k. You pulled it off brilliantly too. Good production. Great verses and choruses. Interesting lyrics. Not a dull moment. Catchy as f*ck.

I'm gonna take the mixed (hah) opinions on the mixing and tell myself they cancel out. Besides, a little roughness is part of the sound. The DM references didn't even occur to me, but then again I haven't heard much of their later stuff. I'm flattered, though; it's not often my voice is a strong point.